


Battle Tested

by FurionAlpha



Category: Avengers (Comics), Captain America (Comics), Iron Man (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 616/MCU mashup, Car Chases, Exiled Avengers, M/M, Post Civil War (Comics), Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 08:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13759716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FurionAlpha/pseuds/FurionAlpha
Summary: Before the Civil War, before the Registration Act, before it all came crashing down, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark were a battle tested team that worked together through world threatening assaults and personal tragedy.  The events of the last year have shattered much of what they once had, leaving Captain America and Iron Man in the ruins.  This is the story of how they're going to get it all back.This is a little bit of a mashup of some things from the comics and some things from the MCU.





	Battle Tested

Madripoor was the kind of place Tony would have loved in his younger days.  It was an opulent country where the wealthy and powerful could go to escape responsibility and indulge their more base desires.  Now it served as a reminder of just how much his motivations had changed over the years, a fact that provided him with some quiet comfort now.  On the streets of Hightown gambling, designer drugs, and sex trafficking were available to anyone who could afford it, but the more shadowy dealings of the city were what brought Tony Stark to a gala in the heart of the city tonight, because amidst the vice and access, Madripoor served as a hub for arms dealers and information brokers.  If you were looking to buy military technology or government secrets, this was the place to do it.    

Scoping out the lavishly furnished mezzanine of the high-rise, Tony recognized a few faces that he was sure shouldn’t be out in the public.  But then again, events sponsored by the Hellfire Club were very exclusive, and most of the people in attendance belonged on the most wanted list of one country or another.  He would have been lying if he said he didn’t feel a certain familiarity and comfort with the setting.  Bigwig weapons dealers, crime lords, and high rollers gathered together, schmoozing and eating hors d'oeuvres, in the kind of comfort that only Madripoor could provide to people who spent most of their time in the shadows.  This was practically second nature.

“And here I was complaining about the company of this stuffy geezer party, but if Tony Stark is here, that must mean something exciting is about to happen.”

_ Shit.   _ Tony turned to face the slender, raven haired woman in a crimson off the shoulder gown making her way toward him.  She was easily the youngest person in the room by a decade, but exuded enough confidence in her gait to convince anyone that she was the most important person in the room. “Justine Hammer.  Isn’t it a little past your bedtime?”

“I could ask you the same thing grandpa.  But you know, business is good since you drove Stark International and S.H.I.E.L.D. into the ground, and daddy’s company needs to make an appearance at these types of things to show that there’s still a reliable security firm out there.  What did you do, break your piggy bank open to get here or are you finally desperate enough to sell that tin can you call armor?”

“The Iron Man will never be for sale, but from the looks of this crowd I’m sure there are some buyers willing to settle for second best.  And I guess whoever can’t afford that can always call Hammer Industries.”  She shot Tony a look of feigned insult, but his attention was diverted from her reply by a beep of his watch.  A glance at the digital face confirmed what he had been idling around waiting for:  _ Transfer Complete. _

“This banter has been absolutely enthralling,” he interjected into what had apparently been a saucy critique by the young Ms. Hammer, “but I’m afraid there’s a cold drink waiting for me somewhere.  Somewhere… not here.”  He started for the door before turning again, “let me know if you ever need an internship or something.  It would be good for your resume to have some experience with tech that actually works.”  With a smirk at her irate expression, Tony pushed through the glass doors of the lobby and out into the brisk night air.  Making his way down the stairs and through the courtyard, he turned his attention to the alert on his watch again.  With a quick twist of his wrist the watch’s holographic interface projected outward where He swiped through files with his free hand, taking stock of what was there.  After a moment of scrolling and a few hand gestures, the display collapsed back into the watch, leaving the digital face blinking slowly red.  

The plaza outside of the building was mostly quiet, save for the the buzz of traffic on the Hightown streets.  There were a few people sitting on benches protruding from concrete planters, keeping to themselves or throwing breadcrumbs into the large koi pond that stretched out in front of  the building  A few yards away, at the end of the carpeted walkway, a sleek silver Mercedes GTS pulled off the street and into the valet lane.  Tony picked up his pace, trying not to seem overly eager.  As he approached the car the window rolled down revealing the driver, clad in a brown leather jacket and a navy baseball cap pulled low over his forehead.

“A German car?  Really, Steve?”

“You try to find an American car on an island in Southeast Asia,” the unmistakable voice of Captain America chided back.  “Just get in, unless you prefer to walk.”

“Tsk, tsk.  These are Armani shoes.  I’m not walking anywhere,” he replied, crossing in front of the car to the passenger side.  His watch now emitted a soft, slow beep every few seconds.  “What did you do, look up a picture of a car thief on the internet before you picked your outfit?”  That earned a glare from both Steve and the prim looking valet standing at a podium a few paces away. 

“I was going for inconspicuous,” Steve muttered through pursed lips.  “Did you get what we came for?”

“Even better,” he opened the door and slid into the leather seat, “but I hate to break it to you Steve, I don’t think anyone is going to miss the fact that we were here.”  That would have earned him another glare, but Steve was distracted by a sudden commotion of guards rushing through the lobby doors and down the stairs of the building toward them.

“Wha- What did you do!?”  He turned to see Tony holding his wrist up to him, the face of his watch rapidly flashing red and beeping in time. 

“You’re going to hate this, but I’d be lying if I said I’m sorry about it.”  The watch face turned solid red and the quick beeps blended together into a solid blare.  Tony really almost did feel sorry, if for nothing else than the look of confusion on Steve’s face as he looked up from the watch face at Tony before the blast erupted from upper levels of the building high above them.  The car shuddered with the force of the explosion and crowd of guards were now scrambling back up yhe steps toward the building to avoid the shards of glass now falling from the upper levels.  Tony could see through the sunroof that flames were billowing out of at least two sides of the building fifty stories up.  Steve turned back from the bedlam breaking out on the ground floor to level an incredulous look at Tony, who was grinning up at the skyline with a self-satisfied expression.

“Are you kidding me!?  You said you were downloading some files, not fire-bombing a skyscraper!  There are civilians out here!”

“I don’t think civilians carry MAC-10s, Steve,” he pointed to a young man in plain clothes clambering to pick himself up from the ground, but having some difficulty as the shoulder strap of his submachine gun had rolled off his shoulder under his coat in the commotion and was now tangled around his torso.  “Grandma over by the koi pond didn’t even flinch when the fireworks started.” He pointed to an elderly asian woman sitting on a bench at the other end of the plaza who was staring back at them intently.  “Trust me, there are no civilians here tonight, or at least none who don’t fully deserve what they’ve gotten themselves into.  And if you were waiting for a signal, I think now is the time to go, before those guards regroup.”

Steve clenched his jaw and faced forward.  “I’m adding this to the list of things we need to have a serious discussion about.”  Tony was going to protest, but Steve didn’t give him the opportunity before flooring the accelerator.  Tony slammed into the passenger door as the rear tires chirped and the car lurched to the side before launching forward into the crowded Madripoor streets.  

“You know, it’s a wonder why you were ousted from a world PEACEKEEPING task force.  I just can’t imagine why that would have happened.”

“Ouch, Steve. That cuts me. Right here.”  He emphasized his words with a hand over his heart.  “And S.H.I.E.L.D. certainly had some big guns for a peacekeeping organization.”

“I’m very familiar with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s guns.  I spent a few months with those guns pointed at me.”  Steve jammed the brakes and swerved the Mercedes through an opening in the traffic, squeezing the paddle shifters to drop a gear and slam Tony in the opposite direction.  As uncomfortable as he was, Tony had to admire that for someone who was born in the 1920s, Steve Rogers had adapted incredibly well to modern automobiles. “In fact- put your seatbelt on- In fact, if I recall correctly, you were one of those big guns pointed in my direction  _ Director Stark _ , so I don’t think I’m the one who needs the reminder.  Tony was bracing himself against the door with one arm while he tried to reach the seatbelt with his other hand.  

“They didn’t make me director until after…” Tony had a brief flash of Steve’s lifeless body laying on an examiner’s table, with his shield draped over him.  He realized that he was holding his breath and he was suddenly grateful for the sound of air rushing past Steve's window and the noises of Hightown traffic for drowning out the sound of his gasp.  “... until after… you know.  And I told you I was wrong about that!”  He was finally able to clasp the seatbelt around himself.  “But I made the best decision I could given the information I had available.  I would do it again if I had to, under the same circumstances. It was a hard choice, but it was the only choice.”

“We can talk about this later.  Right now we have to deal with the attention your stunt’s given us.”

“What?”  Without looking, Steve pointed a finger to the rear view mirror.  Tony whipped around to look out of the slanted rear window.  He could just make out the dark  silhouettes of three sedans against the glare of headlights, veering through traffic and matching Steve’s maneuvers turn for turn. “Shit!  Where did they come from?”

“I don’t know, but they’re gaining on us.  I need space to lose them before we make our rendezvous, and I can’t put any distance between us in this traffic.”

“Shit.”  Tony brough the holographic display up on his watch again and began frantically scrolling through city maps.  “Okay, there’s a levy road along the Western coast of the city.  It’s not open to the public, so it should give us a clear route.”  He flicked the holographic display toward the windshield.  A translucent blue grid appeared briefly across the glass and then faded before a full heads up display appeared.  A map on Tony’s side laid out the optimal route while the screen ahead of Steve began outlining vehicles ahead on the road for better visibility and noting live data such as rate of travel and approximate weight for the surrounding vehicles. “At the next intersection hang a tight left.”

Watching Captain America work was nothing short of awe inspiring.  He could see the soldier’s instincts taking hold, absorbing his surroundings and building a near absolute situational awareness.  He hadn’t even bothered to set the route markers on the HUD.  Seeing the gears turn behind Steve’s blue eyes with the same lazer focus he used when throwing his shield, he wondered if his trajectory software would even be able to keep up with what was happening in the Captain’s head.  Tony once grilled him for answers about how he was able to run all of the necessary calculations to gauge what angle and with what force to throw the shield so that it would hit multiple targets and return to him, while accounting for all of the external variables present on a battlefield.  He had said that he just did it by feeling, which of course was a completely unacceptable answer for the engineer, but seeing him in action, you’d never know that it was all anything but instinctual.

Steve down-shifted as he dove the car through an impossibly tight gap in the right hand lane and then stomped the gas pedal to skid left across traffic.  Tony had complete confidence in him, but even so, he couldn’t keep himself from flinching as the rear wheels spun free of the tarmac and swung the vehicle out just enough to clear the front bumper of the car they were crossing in front of in the left lane.  He couldn’t fathom how Steve knew it would happen, but a narrow passage was opening diagonally through the traffic in front of them through the opposing lanes of traffic.  As the rear tires of the Mercedes regained traction they shot forward through the opening and onto the nearly empty cross street.  

The maneuver gained them some breathing room, but a look back confirmed that all three cars had managed to make it through the intersection and were back in pursuit.  Tony unbuckled his seatbelt before shedding his suit coat and rolling up his left sleeve.  With a few swipes across the watch face the HUD on the windshield faded and thin metal strands began emerging from the watch band, crawling across Tony’s palm and weaving together into what looked like a skeleton of a repulsor gauntlet. 

“Going someplace?”

“Now that we have a little more space I'm going to see if I can't thin the herd some.  Just stay on this road until it ends and then turn right.” Tony rolled down his window and then climbed out through the narrow opening until he was sitting on the door frame with his legs inside the cabin. He braced himself against the inside of the car with his right hand the best he could and leveled the repulsor at the first of the three sedans. He noticed almost too late the gun barrels poking out of the cars. The flashing of the muzzles registered before he heard the rapid succession of pops and pings as bullets impacted the car.  Luckily, Steve’s reaction was a little more immediate.  Tony felt a strong hand grip one of his ankles and then the car swerved, sending him flailing backwards, barely avoiding turning his billionaire brain into a smudge across the pavement.  He grabbed for the door frame trying to regain some semblance of his bearings, though the air was whipping hair around his face and making it difficult to keep his eyes open.  Not that he was particularly fond of the scene around him with pavement racing by below and bullets pinging off of the car from behind. He strained to curl himself upright again, not for the first time cursing the times he had passed on core training with Steve.  He was finally able to force himself upright and laid himself as flat as he could across the roof of the car before taking aim at the sedan that was attempting to flank to their left.  Tony felt the hum of the arc reactor in his chest as the energy spooled in his gauntlet.  He flexed his fingers and sent three shots chirping toward the other car.  The first shattered the windshield, the second and third shots found their mark on the passenger front wheel, bursting the tire and nearly separating the wheel from the vehicle altogether.  The incapacitated car careened toward the other two pursuers, but they each swerved to miss it.  

Tony slinked back into the car just in time for Steve to jam the brakes and skid through another intersection.  “They make that look so easy in the movies.  Do you have any idea how fucking hard it is to hold onto the outside of a moving car?”  Steve shot him a look that said he could have told him that before he climbed out of the window.  “Well at least we’re down one car full of murderous stalkers.”  He collapsed the gauntlet back into his watch and flicked the HUD onto the windshield again.  “That access road is coming up on the the left in 1,000 feet.  It’s probably not paved, but it will bottleneck them at least.”

Steve frowned.  “Whatever we do, we’re going to need to do it quickly.  We’re leaking gas.”

“What?”

“Well this isn’t exactly an armored car and there are people shooting at us, Tony.”

Now that he had a moment to take in the scene, Tony could see the damage that had been done in the short firefight.  The rear window had a few holes in it with spiderweb cracks spreading across the glass.  There were tears across the hood with steam slowly rolling out of them and the driver’s side mirror was now missing.  God, there were even holes in the dashboard and center console, how on earth did Steve manage to not get hit?  “I’d hate to be the person you  _ requisitioned _ this car from.”

Steve actually chuckled, to Tony’s utter confusion.  The situation hadn’t seemed all that humorous to him.  They were still running from two cars packed full of gunmen while they themselves were basically unarmed.  “The funny thing is Tony, this is your car.”

“What?”  He didn’t have a chance to finish that train of thought because Steve jerked the steering wheel left, sending the car crashing through a set of sawhorses and onto a gravel road. Wood splintered over the hood and split the windshield causing the HUD to shiver for a moment as it compensated for the new topography of the glass.  

“Now would be a good time to put that seat belt back on. And technically, all of your assets were seized by the federal government, so I guess I really took it from… I don’t know?  Whatever Osborn is calling his new S.H.I.E.L.D?” Tony was shaking his head and cowering slightly in his seat, but he did buckle his seatbelt..  

“He calls it H.A.M.M.E.R.”

“H.A.M.M.E.R?  As in Justin Hammer?  That can’t be a coincidence.”

“I’m compelled to think not, but it’s hard to believe Norman Osborn would name an agency after anyone but himself.  That’s one of the things at the top of my ‘How the hell did this all happen’ list.”  The HUD was mapping the winding dirt road as best as it could, trying to draw outlines where the road ended or around bends and the turnouts that peppered the road.  To their right the road sloped into boggy wet sand and tall grass.  To their left, however was a sheer drop of a few feet into the Asian Pacific, where the tide lapped against the rocky base of the levy.  Tony swiped through menus on the glass in front of him until the feed from the car’s backup camera displayed.  The two remaining sedans had followed them single file onto the gravel road,  keeping their distance from each other to avoid the cloud of pebbles being kicked up from the lead car’s tires, but overall undeterred.  “I hope you've got something for this because that little gun show back there was kind of my showstopper, and it didn't quite pan out like it was supposed to.”

“I might have something.”  Tony could have sworn he saw an honest to goodness twinkle in Steve’s eyes, right before he turned a knob on the dashboard and killed their headlights.  The car was now in complete darkness except for the lights of the HUD.  Steve braked hard and turned into one of the wide outcroppings meant to allow service vehicles to pass each other on the tight road. They were facing the beach, perpendicular to the road.  Tony could see the cars behind them gaining, but Steve was focused on the cracked windshield in front of him.

“Steve, I don't like this plan.”

“Be quiet.” Tony shrunk into his seat, trying to duck below the level of the windows.

“This isn't Need for Speed, Steve,” he whisper yelled.  “They're going to see us as soon as they pass, and then they're going to turn around and SHOOT us. I am over my quota for getting shot at today!”

Steve turned to him.  He looked as calm as if they were pulling over for a picnic and not sitting on the side of the road waiting to be torn to shreds by gunfire. “I don't know what Need for Speed is, but this is going to work.” 

Tony was trying to decide whether he wanted to die with his eyes open or closed when the first car passed.  Steve pressed his head against the headrest, yanked the shift lever into reverse, and hit the gas.  The tires spit gravel before shooting the car backwards.  They made contact with the fender of the second sedan just as it passed behind them.  The force of the impact jerked the rear of the car to one side and set off the side airbags.  The cabin filled with chemical smoke from the airbags that stung Tony's eyes and throat, but Steve seemed unaffected.  He flicked the shifter into drive and used the momentum of the collision to swing the back of the car around until they were facing forward on the road again.  Tony couldn't see the car they hit, but he heard the loud splash as it hit the water on the other side of the levy.  Tony was still trying to wipe the tears from his eyes when they hit the remaining car.

Steve ducked over the center console, throwing an arm around Tony’s neck to pull him into cover as well.  There were tiny shards of glass raining into the cabin as bullets pierced the windshield.  The taillights of the sedan refracted light across the spiderweb of cracked glass and the smoke in the cabin making everything glow red.  Steve dug his foot even further into the accelerator, causing their tires to spin on the road before the robust V8 engine of the sports car began to overcome the brakes of the sedan and they crept forward.  The driver of the other car must have realized he was eventually going to end up in the ocean with his friends if he didn't let off the brakes and steer, because the red glow diminished and they started to gain speed.  Steve did not let up.  Using what was left of the blurred and blinking HUD to see, he kept the bumpers of the two vehicles pressed tightly against each other as they barreled toward a curve in the road.  The driver in front turned his wheel, but the sedan kept a straight path as his front tires slid across the gravel road under the force of the powerful Mercedes.  Steve lifted his foot for a moment to allow the sedan to disconnect. A small gap formed between the two bumpers and, alleviated from the duress of extra mass, the sedan began to turn. As the body of the heavy sedan tilted slightly into the turn, Steve jammed the gas pedal again and rammed the rear quarter of the car before stomping on his own brake pedal with both feet.

The hit sent the rear of the car rolling into the air.  As their car skidded to a halt, Steve saw the rear tire of the sedan peek over their hood and then disappear.  He heard the distinct cracking of glass and the screech of metal scraping across gravel, then a loud thunk as the car tumbled over the edge of the corner and into the sea. 

Steve and Tony stayed for a moment, huddled close together, hearts pounding.  Tony was the first to gasp for air against his pounding heart and sat up to take in the scene.  He ran his hand over the holes in the dashboard and the headrest of Steve’s seat before turning in shocked realization that the same tears marked his own headrest.  Steve rose, but rested his forehead on the steering wheel for a moment, just barely short of breath.  

“What the FUCK? What- What just happened?  How did we not get shot in the head?  How- Holy fuck I am going to have a heart attack.  No, I’m going to throw up, and then I’m going to have a heart attack.”  Tony was shaking with adrenaline.  Steve just laughed into the steering wheel.  Not a hysterical kind of laugh, but the laugh of a man who had resigned himself with the ridiculousness of his own life.  “What the fuck is so funny?”

Steve turned his head to face Tony without lifting it from the steering wheel.  “We’re out of gas.”  As if on cue the battered engine of their Mercedes sputtered and stalled.  Tony just stared mouth agape.  How had this night gone so wrong.  “I guess we’re going to see how good those fancy shoes are at walking after all,” Steve goaded with an ear to ear grin at Tony's disbelief. 

They made it about a mile on foot before Tony couldn't hold it in anymore. "I miss rocket boots! How do normal people live their day to day lives without rocket boots?" 

"Well us mere mortals usually take a jet, or a car, or a train. Hey, remember when we had a car? Whatever happened to that? I feel like there were people chasing us for some reason... Maybe we blew up their building or something?" He said it in a joking tone, but it didn't make him any less right about why the night had turned out the way it had. After a few moments walking in solemn silence, Tony piped up again.

"I thought they only had by designs, but it was much worse. They actually had my repulsor tech. They were going to be selling reactors and I saw where it was going to lead. It's my worst nightmare, Steve, you know that. They'll get their hands on my tech and then they'll figure out how to mass produce the armor. It already makes me sick that Osborn has one of the suits. I can't- I can't stand the idea that the Iron Man might become a commodity, for sale to the highest bidder." Steve had seen the extreme lengths Tony had gone to in the past to keep his technology out of the wrong hands, even going so far as to destroy all of his armors and start from scratch. "If they figure out how to build the armor, the destructive potential is incalculable. I won't have more blood on my hands. The Iron Man was meant to put a stop to that, to 'privatize world peace.' So when I saw that they had either stripped the repulsor nodes out of the tech they stole or, worse, if they found out how to build it themselves, I saw where it could lead and I rigged the whole lab to go. I should have found a way to let you know what was happening. I'm sorry."

It was rare for Stark to admit he was wrong about anything. Rarer still that he meant it. Steve took a few moments to walk in silence and mull over the words and wonder if they were anything more than just that. "You know, I understand. I know how you feel about your tech being used to hurt people. I'm used to taking gunfire and I don't mind fighting if it's necessary. I even agree with what you did, now that I know why, but I hate what's happened to us. I would have liked a heads up, but a few years ago, if you'd have come flying out of an exploding building, I wouldn't even have questioned it because I trusted you... I still trust you, or at least I trust you to do what you think is right. But... I don't..." Steve's scrunched up his face while he tried to put his thoughts into words. Seeing Steve make such a pained expression on his behalf made Tony's heart sink. "I don't know if I trust your priorities anymore. And I don't know how to get back to where we were. I want to, I really do. I miss it. And everything with the Superhuman Registration Act, I was okay with the government being against me, but when you turned too...Tony, I needed you to believe in me, and instead you gutted me and forced our team to implode on itself."

Tony stopped moving. Steve carried on a few steps ahead before stopping as well and turning. Tony stared out over the ocean to where the black sky and the dark water blurred together. The salty breeze ruffled his black hair around his temples and ears. Steve noticed maybe for the first time how worn he seemed. Tony Stark was just as handsome as ever, maybe more so when set against the backdrop of moonlight over the ocean, but he was a man who had weathered a great many things in his life already. Steve sometimes took for granted that Tony had lived more life than he had before he even woke up from the ice, but looking at him now he could see the man's age. When he turned his brown eyes from the sea to meet his own, Steve saw a sadness there. A sadness that he wished Tony would share the burden of, but knew better than to expect that he would ever open up to him about. Maybe Pepper, or Rhodey, but not Steve.

"I never lost faith in you." Steve watched Tony's mouth say the words, but he wasn't sure if he believed them. It was hard not to believe things when Tony said them. He had so much conviction, but Steve knew better. He knew that Tony's words, his hold facade was as much a weapon as the Iron Man armor, but it was a bitter feeling to convince himself that Tony would use that against him. And then he felt a hand on his shoulder and he was alright believing the words, even if they weren't true. He looked deeper into Tony's eyes. It was often difficult to bear the full attention of Tony Stark, to be scrutinized by the engineer's gaze that regarded technology and people like a puzzle, examining with a coldness that stripped you bare. The look in Tony's eyes now was not that. It was hurt, and it was need. He was not an intimate man, but over the years Steve had worked his way through Tony's defenses. A genuine laugh, a sidelong glance, a touch, these were things that their friendship had earned him. Despite the need in Tony's eyes, when Steve considered the magnitude of what they were facing, and the solitude that they found themselves in, those small intimacies were what Steve needed.

Tony squeezed his shoulder tighter and repeated himself. "I never lost faith in you." He motioned looked out to the city now and motioned with his free hand. "It was them I lost faith in. All of them. Rooting for us one day and hunting us the next. I saw the tide turning. People were afraid, and they were afraid of us. I knew where it was all heading. First they would decide which of us deserved to be heroes, who deserved to fight for what was right. Then they would tell us which right to fight for. They would have turned us all into weapons sooner or later. It wouldn't be long before what was right changed from defending our cities to invading others'. How long before we would be erasing cities in the name of peacekeeping? So I got out in front of the tide and served up the Avengers on a platter so that we could work from the inside. I figured we stood a better chance that way, of retaining some freedom, some humanity and voice not to be used as walking WMDs. I never could have imagined what would happen, to us and to you." Tony's words made sense. That didn't help ease Steve's feeling of betrayal, but he chose to believe them. He chose to believe Tony because right now, that was what he needed. Tony gave Steve's shoulder a final squeeze and then let him go. Neither would admit that they instantly missed each other's warmth, but Tony dropped his hand and forged on ahead walking, leaving steve to trail behind for a moment before catching up and falling in step beside him.

"Oh, I forgot to mention the good news. I found an interesting bit of intel while I was digging through the Hellfire Club's servers." Steve looked up and saw that Tony now wore an expression of pure delight. "They had a report from a recon squad who seemed convinced that a research facility in Nevada had a very important shipment of equipment headed their way. I was able to get into the manifest and found a few pieces of some of my older armors they must have dug out of one of Fury's black sites. And then there was some mention of a shield."

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it to these notes, thank you for reading! This is the first time I've written anything for AO3, but I've been a long-time lurker in the Stony fandoms and figured it was about time I contributed something.
> 
> I was noticing that most of the works seem to focus on Steve and Tony meeting for the first time, but one of the things I really love about these two characters in the comics is that they've worked with each other for years and really know each other. I wanted to explore that a little bit.
> 
> Also, WOW I haven't really written anything since high school (8-ish years ago) and it was super difficult to get back into the swing of things, but depending on the responses to this I have a rough idea of where I want to take the story. Maybe a little more breaking and entering antics, maybe a secret love-child somewhere in the mix, a little zombie action, time-travel, clones, who knows?


End file.
